Self-wringing floor cleaning and waxing device



Oct. 11, 1960 A. K. BROWN, JR 2,955,309

SELF-WRINGING FLOOR CLEANING AND WAXING DEVICE Filed April 14, 1958 2Sheets-Sheet 1 34 ;.i/ 52 32 g I 32 44 52 2g Fl 6. 3.

INVENTOR. Aemue KBEOIVMJE.

Oct. 11, 1960 A. K. BROWN, JR 2,955,309

SELF-WRINGING FLOOR CLEANING AND WAXING DEVICE Filed April 14. 1958 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig, 5,, INVENTOR.

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United States Patent SEDF-WRINGING FLOOR CLEANING AND v WAXING DEVICEArthur K. Brown, Jr., 1640 N. Kenmore st,

South Bend, Ind.

lh'led Apr. 14, 1958, Ser. No. 728,286 2 claims. (Cl. 15-119 Thisinvention relates in general to mops and in particular to mops adaptedto be used by the housewife in cleaning or waxing floors of the home. uu

Itis an object of my invention to provide a moptha combines, in oneunit, the featuresof a conventional mop wringer bucket and aconventional rag mop.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a cheaply constructed,easily repaired, cleaned and serviced mop adapted to clean floors. V

And it is yet another object of my invention to provide a dual purposemanually operated mop that can be easily wrung dry.

Other objects of my invention and desirable details of construction willbecome apparent from a detailed description of one embodiment of myinvention, described in detail in the following specification, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings illustrating said embodiment,in which:

Figure 1 is an isometric view disclosing one embodiment of my invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view, taken on the line22 of Figure l, disclosing details of the wringing mechanism of myinvention.

Figure 3 is a sectional view, taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2,disclosing details of the floating rollers of my invention.

Figure 4 is another longitudinal sectional view, taken on the line 4-4of Figure 2, disclosing details of the wringing mechanism and thedriving rollers of my invention; and

Figire 5 is an enlarged sectional view, taken on the line 5-5 of Figure4, disclosing details of the driving and driven roller structure of myinvention.

Referring to Figure 1 disclosing a preferred embodiment of my invention,an elongated housing or bracket member 10, comprising two face to facecup like members 12 and 14, serves as a housing for a mop wringingmechanism and also as a bracketing means for connecting a mop handle toa mop scrubbing member, both of which will be described hereinafter. Asdisclosed in Figures 1 and 4 flanges 13 and 15 of the housing are inabutment with each other and the two parts of the housing are heldtogether by means including a rivet 11, Figure 1, or other suitablefastening means. The wringing mechanism includes a chain 16 mounted onsprockets 18 and 20, said sprockets being mounted, respectively, on oneend of a crank 22 and a driving shaft 24. The sprocket 20, as isdisclosed in Figure 4 is keyed to the shaft 24; and sprocket 18 is keyedto crank 22.

On the shaft 24 there aremounted rollers 26 and 28 each comprising acylinder member 30 made of a suitable material such as a plastic uponwhich is mounted a cylindrical shaped sponge like member 31 of suitableabsorbent material such as cellulose or lambs wool. Spool shaped capmembers 32, which may be made of wood, metal, or a suitable plasticmaterial, are sleeved over the shaft 24, the outermost cap of eachroller, Figure 4, being secured 2,955,309 Patented Oct. 11, 1960 "in agenerally cylindrical shaped opening in the shaft.

The pin 34 which is press fitted into the cap is inserted into the shaft24 by means of wedge shaped detent'slots 36 in the end of said shaft.This construction facilitates the assembly 'of the parts of the roller.All the rollers of my mop mechanism are alike; accordingly, only one ofthe same has been described in detail.

Continuing the description of the mop unit of my invention, frontrollers, which may be referred to as floating rollers, are driven whenthe crank 22 is actuated. These floating, that is driven, rollers areindicated by the reference numerals 38 and 40 and are duplicates of therollers 26 and 28; and they .are rotatably mountedon a shaft 42. As isdisclosed in Figure 3 this shaft 42 is sleeved through the two parts ofthe housing unit 10, a' spacer or shoulder 44, which is positionedbetween flanges 46 and 48 of the housing, serving to properly positionthe rollers 38 and 40.

A suitable handle 50, adapted to be grasped by the hands of the personusing the mop, is fitted within a socket formed on the upper end of thehousing 10 and secured in place, preferably by rivets 52. r

There is thus provided a mop combining the features of the conventionalrag mop and mop wringer bucket; for after use, in the cleaning anddrying of the floor, the rollers, both driving and driven, are wrung dryby the operation of the crank 22. It is to be noted that the pairs ofrollers, mounted on each side of the housing, lie in a plane parallel orsubstantially parallel to the floor being cleaned and that the housing10 lies in a plane which is normal to the plane of the rollers. It isapparent therefore that all four of the rollers engage the floorsimultaneously; thereby providing a large scrubbing surface which may bedescribed as a scrubbing member.

As a feature of my invention the driving rollers are in tight frictionalengagement or in mesh with the driven rollers and as is evidenced by aninspection of Figure 5 the absorbent material of the several rollers isdistorted out of its normal shape. If the rollers were not engaged asdescribed above they would roll when rubbed against the floor and beuseless for scrubbing. Since they are in mesh and engage the floor atthe same time asa scrubbing member the rollers are locked and do notturn; and this is apparent from a study of Figure 5.

Any one of the rollers can be removed quickly and easily without the useof tools simply by sliding them off of their mounting shafts. In thisremoval operation the pin 34 is sprung from the wedge shape detent slot36 thus freeing the roller from said shaft. Once the roller is off theshaft the caps can be readily removed from each end of the cylindricalshaped sponge member to facilitate the replacement of said member. Inthe case of the driving rollers power from the shaft 24 is transmittedto said roller through the pins 34. Wringing the rollers of myinvention, by the operation of the crank 22 takes much of the work outof cleaning the floor; and it is to be noted that my invention,operating as a mop, can be used close to the baseboard of the room andin corners without scratching the woodwork.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been described inconsiderable detail, I do not wish to be limited to the particularconstruction shown which may be varied within the scope of theinvention, and it is the intention to cover hereby all adaptations,modifications and arrangements thereof which come within the practice ofthose skilled in the art to which the invention relates.

I claim:

1. A mop adapted to clean floors by first absorbing a cleaning fluidduring the cleaning operation and then exy 3 gelling said. fluid. fromthe men, said p co n et pairs of rollers positioned alongside each otherand lying substantially in the same plane, each of said pairs of rollersconsisting of a driving roller having an absorbent acing. and a drivenroller having n abs ent facing aid r ler b ng in sq e g c a t w a h o hr 80 that the same do not rotate when the mop is bodily pushed acrossthe floor, 'a drive shaft extending through the severaldriving rollers,a shaft extending through the, several driven rollers, a housing memberpositioned between the pairs of rollers. and lying in a plane extendingnormal to the aforementioned plane. of the pairs of rollers, said shaftsbeing rotatably mounted in the housing memher, a driving mechanismhoused within the housing member and operably connected to the driveshaft, and a manually operable crank operably connected to the drivingmechanism and positioned alongside the housing member.

2. A mop adapted to clean floors by first absorbing a cleaning fluidduring the cleaning operation and then expelling said fluid, from themop, said mop comprising two pairs of rollers having absorbent faces andpositioned alongside each other and lying substantially in the sameplane, each of the two pairs of rollers consisting of a driving rollerand a driven roller in meshing squeezing contact with each otherwhereby'the bottoms of the then non-rotating meshed rollers form ascrubbing surface when the mop is bodily pushed across the floor and"whereby rotation of the driving roller serves, to. rotate the drivenroller to thereby expel the cleaning fluid from both rollers, a driveshaft extending through the several driving rollers, a shaft extendingthrough the several driven rollers, a two part housing member positionedbetween the pairs of rollers and lying in a plane extending normal tothe aforementioned plane of the pairs of rollers, said shafts beingrotatably' molinted in the housing memher, a driving-'mechanism housedwithin the housin member'and operably connected to the drive shaft, anda manually operable crank operably connected to the driving mechanismand positioned alongside thehousing member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS533,413 Downton Jan. 29, 1895 557,944 Beard Apr. 7, 1896 1,174,213 Whiteet a1. Mar. 7, 1916 1,442,303 Sloan Jan. 16, 1923' 1,474,994 Brown Nov.20, 1923' 2,518,183 Renne Aug. 8,,1950 2,651,803 Browne Sept. 15', 1953FOREIGN PATENTS 83,992 Sweden July 30, 1935' 411,937 France June 29,1910

